oolite difficulty.....

[Alex]

As DaddyHoggy says, there are a lot of losses to be said about buying an 'old bomber'

You start with a Cobra Mklll.
What better ship to be getting on with?
UP grade, Never DOWN.
But remember, don't go up unless you have spare cash to keep the maintenance.
My reconing is half the price of the ship I want.
i.e. Cobra3 to supaCobra, 600,000 spare on the 1.6Million, left me short and having to do some dodgy things to make the ballance.
Tis a False economy. But great fun in this game.

[Poro]

Although I'm sure the second-hand salesmen try to buff up the finish as much as they can, every time I enter a Salvage Gang operation, and see those rust-covered ships held in the entry pit: I shudder.

[snork]

I discovered Oolite like only last weekend, and my impression is that it is a lot easier for a beginner than original elite was, back then.
In Oolite, I was able to afford all the good stuff in practically no time.

Though I also partly blame your_ad_here.oxp for it - adding "convenience shops" at every mostly rich, mostly harmless system (or something), right next to the witchpoint, and most of them don't even rotate. And their prices are generally too good.
(one of the very few oxps I installed, thinking it would only be looks and no heavyload on my poor PC)

I only ever played elite on a friends Amiga, for some weeks only, maybe 20 years ago. So my knowledge is poor and my memories are faint. Please forgive mistakes / faulty memory.

steering
o.Elite - I think it had no yaw (?) and wasn't it I did not control the speed, but the thrust ?
Thus manual docking (and fighting) being much harder ?
Finally buying a docking computer - That was better than -say- drinking champagne.

Oolite - docking is so easy. Heck, I even postponed bying a docking computer until I had almost all the other cheap equipment.

fighting :

o.Elite : I remember I was no good at it, and the only way I would ever get someone down, was by fleeing and killing them with the hind laser.
I never got the hunting someone and killing them with front laser done.

Now in Oolite - no problem. none at all. Actually I was kind of a little bit disappointed when I met my first Thargoid ship (in real space) and was able to take them down, even with me in panicking mode.
(beam laser only, I think. and me too, I fouled up the docking after that fight. ^^)

And I can so easily avoid combat - travel "safe" worlds only, avoid the direct witchpoint-station way, fuel-inject speed and so on. (I do not like the term "jump-speed", I found it confusing for me as a noob)


I have no idea how much my nowadays being used to gamepad use influences the difficulty (to me) in Oolite.
Back then I played Elite with keyboard controls.

[Commander McLane]

Though I also partly blame your_ad_here.oxp for it - adding "convenience shops" at every mostly rich, mostly harmless system (or something), right next to the witchpoint, and most of them don't even rotate. And their prices are generally too good.
(one of the very few oxps I installed, thinking it would only be looks and no heavyload on my poor PC)

Well, one thing completely new to Oolite is the expandability, of course, allowing you to find an install OXPs which let you get rich fast. I am sure that without trading elsewhere than in main stations you wouldn't pile up money so quickly.

Oh, and by the way, YAH is an OXP which I have never installed on my not-so-poor MacBook Pro, because it slowed things down to much for my taste.

steering
o.Elite - I think it had no yaw (?) and wasn't it I did not control the speed, but the thrust ?
Thus manual docking (and fighting) being much harder ?

Yes, yaw is also new to Oolite, and it even is indeed quite new (made available with Oolite 1.69, I think; so it wasn't in the last stable release 1.65). As of yet it is also a preliminary feature, which may be removed again before the next stable release.

Finally buying a docking computer - That was better than -say- drinking champagne.

Oolite - docking is so easy. Heck, I even postponed bying a docking computer until I had almost all the other cheap equipment.

This may have something to do with you being 20 years older and more experienced in driving vehicles in RealLife™ as well. I think there is no other issue in which your mileage may vary as much as in docking. There are quite some people here on the boards who are regularly complaining about manual docking being way too difficult. You find it easy: good for you.

fighting :

o.Elite : I remember I was no good at it, and the only way I would ever get someone down, was by fleeing and killing them with the hind laser.
I never got the hunting someone and killing them with front laser done.

Now in Oolite - no problem. none at all. Actually I was kind of a little bit disappointed when I met my first Thargoid ship (in real space) and was able to take them down, even with me in panicking mode.
(beam laser only, I think. and me too, I fouled up the docking after that fight. ^^)

I would also guess the experience factor to play a role here.

[Loxley]

Yes, yaw is also new to Oolite, and it even is indeed quite new (made available with Oolite 1.69, I think; so it wasn't in the last stable release 1.65). As of yet it is also a preliminary feature, which may be removed again before the next stable release.

I hope it stays, it'll be much harder to bring my port and starboard military guns into play without it.